JFK ASSASSINATION ARGUMENTS (PART 746)

I'll expand on why I think it is unlikely that Essie [Buell Wesley Frazier's mother] saw Oswald after he put the bag in [Frazier's] car. After Oswald put it in the car he is seen at the kitchen door. I just don't see him wandering out to the street during this time.

He might wait by the car for Frazier, maybe out front of the carport, maybe in the carport, but I think it unlikely he wandered to where he could be seen from the kitchen window again. Possible, but seems unlikely to me.

DAVID VON PEIN SAID:

In the final analysis concerning this matter, I think Linnie Mae Randle's testimony settles the issue about when Lee Oswald went to Buell Wesley Frazier's car and put the rifle package in the back seat.

Linnie Mae said that she saw Oswald AS HE CROSSED WESTBROOK STREET heading toward the Randle house. And right after crossing the street, Oswald headed straight for Frazier's car.

To believe that Oswald still had the package with him when Frazier's mother (Essie Mae Williams) saw him through the kitchen window, we'd have to believe that Oswald crossed the street....went directly to Frazier's car....opened the back door of the car....and then walked back toward the Randle house (the kitchen side) with the bag still with him.

That's just silly, because the only reason for Oswald to go to Frazier's car would be to put the bag inside the car. What other possible reason would he have for going to Frazier's car immediately after crossing the street?

BUD SAID:

Do you think it is possible for her [Linnie Mae Randle] to have seen this [LHO putting the package in the back seat of Frazier's car], David?

DAVID VON PEIN SAID:

I'm not sure. But I certainly think it's possible, given the amount of space between the slats in the carport (as seen in the photo below):

I certainly don't think Linnie Mae was lying at all. She possibly HEARD more than she SAW.

I.E.,

She peeks out the kitchen door and HEARS the person who she just saw walk toward her brother's car (Lee Oswald). It's obvious that the person at Frazier's car at that point in time was the person Randle just saw cross the street (Oswald).

Randle then HEARS the door of Frazier's car being opened. It's also possible that she gets enough of a glimpse of Oswald through the slats of the carport to see at least a portion of Oswald as he places the bag in the car.

So, the combination of HEARING what Oswald was doing at the car and very likely SEEING a little bit of Oswald through the slats was certainly enough information, IMO, for Mrs. Linnie Mae Randle to reasonably testify in the following manner:

"He opened the right back door and I just saw that he was laying the package down, so I closed the door."

BUD SAID:

One thing to consider, if Oswald put the rifle in the car, he wouldn't be apt to be wandering where he could be seen from the kitchen window again.

DAVID VON PEIN SAID:

Why not? At that point, he wasn't still carrying the rifle package for everybody to see. So there's no real reason he should cower and hide in a corner someplace at that point in time.

As I think about this situation some more, here are some of my additional thoughts on it (as I try to look at things from Oswald's point-of-view):

Oswald was probably getting a little bit anxious as he waited outside Frazier's house on the morning of November 22nd. According to Frazier's testimony:

"I just thought maybe, you know, he [Lee Oswald] just left a little bit earlier, but when I looked up and saw that the clock was...I knew I was the one who was running a little bit late because, as I say, I was talking, sitting there eating breakfast and talking to the little nieces, it was later than I thought it was."

So, if Frazier is correct about running a little later than usual on 11/22/63, I can certainly envision Oswald possibly deliberately WANTING to make himself visible to people (Frazier particularly) inside the Randle house after LHO put the bag in the car. So it doesn't seem surprising to me that Oswald might want to move out in front of the kitchen window where he could reasonably assume Wes Frazier might see him.

If it had gotten a little bit later, I can also envision Oswald knocking on the door to remind Wesley that it's time to leave for work.

It's also quite possible that Oswald was anxious to get to work a little EARLIER than usual on November 22nd.

Why?

Because if he gets there early, he'd have a better chance to stash his rifle package somewhere without anybody seeing him with the package (or at the very least, fewer people than normal would be apt to see Oswald coming in the back door with a long bag if he got to work early), since most of the Depository workers would be coming in after Oswald arrives.

This particular theory assumes that the doors to the Texas School Book Depository Building would be open to any employee prior to 8:00 AM (or possibly even prior to approximately 7:30 AM, given this "early arrival" theory).

I would assume that an employee could arrive early if he wanted to, without having to wait for the doors to be unlocked, but I have no personal knowledge if this is true or not. Perhaps Gary Mack knows. (I wouldn't be surprised if he did have this tidbit of information, seeing as how Mr. Mack is "The Walking TSBD/Dealey Plaza Encyclopedia".)

This is all pure speculation, of course. And in the long run, this type of nitpicking and conjecture about Oswald's movements don't amount to anything substantial at all. But it is fun to engage in this kind of guesswork from time to time. Heck, conspiracy theorists specialize in such speculative endeavors regarding things far more important than this topic. ;)

Why do you assume that Essie saw Oswald out the window at a different time than LMR [Linnie Mae Randle]?

DAVID VON PEIN SAID:

Because Oswald was MOVING when Linnie Mae saw him. He wasn't stationary.

Do you think that a MOVING Oswald would have been able to be seen by Linnie Mae and Essie...and then after each of them sees Oswald moving toward the carport, do you think there would have been enough time before the moving Oswald left their field of vision for Essie to ask Wesley "Who is that?" and then for Wesley to look out the window and still see the moving Oswald as he headed for the carport area?

I'm dubious about Essie and Wesley seeing a MOVING Oswald. I'd bet he was pretty much standing still and stationary when Essie and Wesley saw him out the window.

Plus, there's the fact that Linnie Mae would have probably been blocking part of the view of Wesley and Essie, because Linnie Mae was standing in front of the kitchen window when she saw Oswald crossing the street (see photo below):

And it sure looks like a fairly small window to me. Hence, it seems likely to me that a MOVING Oswald would only appear in that window for a fleeting moment to anyone who wasn't standing right at the window.

BUD SAID:

Nor is there any reason for him [Oswald] to wander away from that important item [the brown paper bag] back into view of the kitchen window.

DAVID VON PEIN SAID:

Bud, you're talking as if the carport area and the street (Westbrook) are miles from each other. They're not. The carport is very close to the street itself (see photos below). If Oswald had walked just a few feet away from Wesley Frazier's car, he would have been in the street: